Tercel Glider

Just completed my Estes Tercel Glider.
This was my most time consuming rocket build yet. Thanks mrichhcirm for the great tips on your build thread.

It took a long time sanding the airfoil on the main wing. I sanded the balsa sheets thin for a weight reduction so that I could put a nice paint job on it. When I was done with the airfoil, I set the wing on a table and it tended to lean on one side. I had to sand off some balsa on the heavier side to get it to balance evenly on both sides.
I used a very small amount of CA so that it wouldn't spread everywhere I didn't want. I put a fillet of Tight bond on all the joints and cleaned up the joints with CWF.
I ran a thin needle through the balance point, filed the sharp point off the one end and used my fingers to balance it. The tail was a little heavy, so I sanded some of the tail end to balance it, rather than add weight.
I took it to a grassy park area for a hand test launch and it glided very nicely on a non-windy day. (it was so still that not a leaf was moving-that type of day). I tested it again on a breezy day toward the wind and it flew nice into the wind, but it tended to tumble a little as it flew away from the wind.
I believe these gliders are temperamental and need near perfect weather conditions. I will bring mine with me and reserve it for a day with no winds which means getting at the site at 6:00 in the morning and setting this off first thing.

She's a beauty!!!

TopRamen said:

She's a beauty!!!

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I'll second the motion

Wow! Nice work!

You wouldn't want to lose that one.
Fly it with the 1/2A engine to start.

Thanks TopRamen, K'Tesh and hcmbanjo..

The 1/2A engine sounds like a safe start hcmbanjo. I had to wait a day after painting the white coat before taping off for the red coat and another day to tape off for the black paint stripes. Losing it would be no fun.

JERRYR708 said:

Just completed my Estes Tercel Glider.
This was my most time consuming rocket build yet. Thanks mrichhcirm for the great tips on your build thread.

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Glad to be of service, Jerry! That is one pretty paint job you've got there.

Thanks mrichhcirm, When it comes to gliders, the nicer the paint job, the worse they perform. Sometimes it is best to leave them plain Jane. It passed the hand launch test, but don't know how it will perform 700 feet...no wait 300 feet with all that paint. I built it for durability and looks, rather than a lightweight endurance model.

JERRYR708 said:

I built it for durability and looks, rather than a lightweight endurance model.

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I can't fault you for that. I was conscious of weight when I built mine, but I did spray it very lightly with a cleat coat to improve durability. I recently reglued the wings on mine, and had to make a new pop pod to replace the one the tree ate.

Congrats on a beautifully built model.

I can see why you'd be worried about possibly losing it.

Something to consider, get a second kit. Put a lot less time and effort into building it, less sanding of the airfoil, minimal finish. So what you'd have is a model you could enjoy flying with a lot less concern about what if you lose it, or what if it gets a ding in the leading edge, a bit windy day, or whatever.

- George Gassaway

She is a beauty for sure!

So is it beneficial to airfoil them? I have heard that it is and that it isn't so I'm not sure

You don't have to airfoil the wing...it won't glide as far but it should be a little more durable and you'll save some tedious sanding. Just a question of your priorities. note that according to the instructions, the balance point will be different with a non-airfoiled wing.

Ok thank you,

rocketjet787 said:

She is a beauty for sure!

So is it beneficial to airfoil them? I have heard that it is and that it isn't so I'm not sure

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A good airfoil will make it glide better and also boost higher.

But there are many degrees to which a person can sand an airfoil. Trying to get the "perfect" airfoil takes lots and lots of sanding and craftsmanship to get the shape just right. I know I have never sanded a "perfect" airfoil.

Anyway, for a person flying a Rocket Boosted Glider (RBG) for sport and not duration, the airfoil does not need to be much. But it ought to be something, not left square. Basically, just round the leading and trailing edges. Because square edges on the LE and TE can make it trickier to get a reliable glide trim. It does not take long or a lot of sanding to just round the edges.

Now, where it is more important to get a good airfoil is with an R/C RBG. If you're going to be spending dollars per flight of an R/C glider, might as well get a better glide so it lasts longer, a 60 second flight is more fun than a 30 second flight, a 2 minute flight more fun than 1 minute, and so on. Thanks to hot-wire cut foam wing cores and wings skinned with thin balsa or composite layup (fiberglass cloth, graphite spars, etc), a lot of RC RBG's have had pretty god airfoils. Although old-school solid balsa wings sanded to shape are still options. A really badly shaped airfoil could make the R/C glider have some screwy glide trim or handling issues.

Heck, when I did a 4x scale-up of the Astron SpacePlane to R/C, the wings were 1/4" solid balsa, leading edges rounded (trailing edge elevons were built up out of two layers of 1/16" balsa and 1/8" spacer strip at the front for a triangular tapered shape).